My grandson has mild hearing loss (about 25%). Normally, you will not notice. Recently, he was given, along with the rest of his class, a test to determine if he could participate in a special enrichment course (it involves being bussed one morning a week to another school). The test was oral. When he asked the teacher to repeat a question, he was told that was not permitted. He didn’t pass. My DIL complained but got nowhere. Is this even legal? Certainly it wasn’t ethical. This took place in Redmond, WA, BTW.
Does the school know about his disability? If so, this does scream reasonable accommodation.
The accountability for that, whether discriminatory or not, would land at the feet of the administrators or test designers who designed the test paradigm. The person who actually reads the question is probably given strict instructions about how to administer the test, and that commonly includes that they may not repeat or explain questions that the student doesn’t understand.
There’s a reason they do it that way. If a student doesn’t understand a question and asks for an explanation, or even a simple repeat, and if the test person does so, then that student is getting some sort of input that other students aren’t getting. That means, technically, that the student isn’t getting exactly the same test as other students, and this student might be at an unfair advantage.
So, in order to accommodate any disabilities, it would be necessary for the designer of the test to design the necessary accommodations into the test paradigm from the ground up. So that is what seems not to have happened here.
That one question determined he didn’t pass?
What school district? Lake Washington? I’m in neighboring Bellevue so can’t comment beyond it’s been explained to me that Lake Washington schools are hit and miss for supporting special needs.
Yes, your grandson is afforded protection under ADA.
Does your grandson have an Individual Education Program (IEP) in place with his school? This is something to look into. It would document his disability and accomodations required. IF he doesn’t have an IEP, this is probably something to investigate.
Some people lawyer up over their kids disabilities. I’ve got a daughter that’s autistic. I’ve had good results working with the school. I would talk to the teacher and the principal about this particular incident.
Generally speaking, the school is required to accommodate disabilities they know about. If they didn’t know about the disability before testing began, they don’t have to retroactively change their decision just because you say, “hey, I only failed because I’m disabled! and I can prove it.”
If you want an accommodation for a test you need to ask BEFORE you begin – obviously, before you fail. They aren’t required to turn your fail into a pass. That isn’t an accommodation.
:dubious:
He doesn’t necessarily have to have an IEP to get accommodations. If his hearing loss is the only disability he has, a 504 plan may suffice. There’s some information here about the differences between the two. The 504 plan may be more accessible.
Who did his mom complain to? She might try setting up an appointment with the school’s principal to see what recourse she has. If she can enlist the principal’s support - and the principal is likely to be all for more kids participating in enrichment, since that has the effect of upping test scores - she may be able to get farther than she would otherwise.
Contact Washington School for the Deaf, and see if they might be able to help your grandson somehow ? http://www.wsd.wa.gov/outreach/outreachhome.aspx
Deaf Schools can assist with HOH kids. HOH kids DO have the right to full accessible understanding. Hearing aids do not 100% correct hearing loss, (even for a mild loss) so they’re at a disadvantage, orally.
No there were several he didn’t quite hear. Since I have not had trouble communicating with him, I suspect that the reader was not very clear or just spoke too softly.
If the school didn’t know of his disability beforehand (I don’t know that they did or didn’t) they sure did afterwards.
I will add, as someone who taught for 40 years that this idea of giving questions that may not be repeated seems to be a pedagogically poor idea. The whole class will be handicapped if the reader is poor.
Parent of kid with special needs here…
If the grandson has an IEP in place, then this likely violated it. If not, the parents ought to get that in place. They need to request a meeting with the school district’s Special Education office and request an assessment. Once that has occurred, the school can develop a plan, one which likely means he won’t have to take oral exams.
Schools are set up to deal with this within the established guidelines. The parents will need to fight to get that process started. That’s the only way it will be addressed. Here’s a link to how it works in Washington State that should help. Contact those folks if the local school isn’t responsive.
Doesn’t that place the responsibility on the administration to provide someone who can adequately read at an adequate volume? I am completely deaf in one ear and have been since the age of 9. I never had an accomodation and never felt I needed one. Have you considered a hearing aid?
OK some misinformation from China Guy and Hello Again so let me clarify.
ADA does not apply in the schools in regards to instruction. Instead the applicable law is either section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and IDEA but those plans need to be in place BEFORE the accomodation is mandated so if he does not have a 504 plan or IEP already you are not going to win this fight because what they did was legal.
I suspect your grandson would be eligible under the DHH classification for an IEP under IDEA but if not, a section 504 uses a much more leinent definition of a disability. Under that definition, you merely need to
- Have documentation of a disability. I assume you have something from an audiologist or doctor showing the hearing loss.
- The disability must interfere with a major life function which in your son’s case would be communication.
Saint Cad, MA - Special Education [Transition Studies]
Again, goes back to test design.
If class A hears speaker A and class B hears speaker B, then they are not getting the same test… even if the spakers were coached beforehand. Were the speakers tested for reading skills?
In the Canadian version of “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire” the presenter, a very experienced and prominent Canadian journalist, wildly mispronounced the name of Lake Okanagan, the biggest lake in British Columbia. She said Oh-CAN-a-GAN instead of “Oh-kah-NAH-gun”. You could see the contestant was confused by this and was wondering if he was misinterpreting the question. Never rely on a recruit’s complete expertise. Reading questions to a bunch of kids relying on the speaker’s verbal abilities with no clarification is a recipe for failure. Not to mention volume or vocal clarity, accents, etc. The better way to do this would be to record the test and play the same tape to everyone. The best way to do it would be to flash the question on an overhead projector as they are read. Unless, of course, the course is for auditory comunication skills.
Thank you, you are absolutely correct as far as the particular laws and my post was somewhat misleading in that regard. However I think we agree that the disability and/or child’s needs must be established before testing begins. If this does not happen the school is not required to change their decision after the fact.